Some of you may have been wondering about the delay of this newsletter. But, the wait has not been in vain as we can now report on the most important news regarding the implementation of the Steering Platform. The date for the next meeting has been set and the invitations have been sent out. The German EU-presidency is inviting to Berlin, together with the European Commission. DG Research has also provided us with a report on the association status of the Western Balkan countries in the Seventh Framework Programme. FP7 was launched on January 1, 2007 and therefore we have dedicated a great part of this eJournal to aspects of international cooperation in this major funding programme, also dealing with the thematic focus on Food, Agriculture, Fisheries, and Biotechnology. We have also focused on national initiatives by Turkey, Austria, Greece and the Netherlands, and an introduction to the Croatian S&T system is included. In addition some news from BiH, Kosovo and Montenegro is given. COST and SEE-ERA.NET introduce opportunities for WBC researchers, you learn more about see-science.eu reports (S&T country reports and a needs/offer-matrix) and possibilities for information gathering through eNewsletters. We hope that it was worth waiting for all of you and we are looking forward to the next publication, which is due in May 07.